We have translated expressions and emotions into emojis, and simply using an emoji seems to tell the recipient that all is okay. The inclusion of even one of those animated faces signals ease and lightness, regardless of what emotion the emoji represents, even if it represents crying. The acronym LOL rarely means laughing out loud—not literally laughing out loud, anyway. Very little of what we say in text is a literal representation of how we feel, what we’re doing, how we’re behaving.
